There are basically two test strategies: blackbox testing, as it is called, and whitebox testing. The present invention relates to blackbox testing in which the respective installation is tested from the customer viewpoint by means of simulated operation by the customer. The structure of the installation, in particular software-related and/or hardware-related programming details, are not known. The object to be tested functions like a black box, in contrast to whitebox testing, where the structure and the software code are known to the test engineer.
Medical engineering installations which are deployed in particular in the clinical environment are normally operated by different persons and/or deployed or applied in different ways. If such an installation is to be tested, then it is necessary to take into account and to cover in the test the different types of operation and the different usage behavior of different persons and/or clinics.
In the prior art, it is known in this context for requirement-based tests to be executed. These tests are, however, restricted only to a small section of the testing. They are designed in order to check whether the installation to be tested fulfills the respective requirements defined in advance by means of requirement and design specifications and by means of functional specifications. If, for example, a computer tomograph is to be tested, then a requirement-based test can cover only whether the computer tomograph also produces the desired and necessary sectional images. However, this represents only a small section of test scenarios. For example, it should also be possible to investigate whether the installation also terminates fault-free where a user has triggered an incorrect or defective sequence of instructions or operating steps. An aggravating factor in this context is that a desired result of the medical installation to be tested (for example, of a computer-tomography installation) can be achieved in a different way, i.e. through different sequences of operating steps. It should also be possible for these different operating options to be covered by a test.
Tests to date have been implemented statically, i.e. only predefined types of operation can be tested. In practice, however, such a method has proved disadvantageous. Firstly, only a relatively low test coverage can be achieved using this method and secondly, it is not possible with this method to adapt the test dynamically to the application situation in each case.
In currently known systems there is no interaction and no exchange of information between the manufacturer of the equipment on the one hand and the user or operator of the equipment on the other. This results in checking and test routines, in the case of medical installations with medical knowledge, basically being set up manually. A systematic method that also includes previously gathered test-relevant data in the generation of future data has therefore not been possible until now.